Los Angeles Lakers star Russell Westbrook benched late in loss; coach Frank Vogel had green light, sources say

LOS ANGELES — Long before Russell Westbrook was benched down the stretch of Wednesday's 111-104 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel was given assurances that the organization would support him in taking a hard line while coaching the star, sources told ESPN.

Over the past week and a half, Lakers management has told the coaching staff to coach Westbrook as they see fit, even if that means pulling him from a game, as Vogel did for the final 3 minutes, 52 seconds of the fourth quarter against Indiana, sources told ESPN.

One source close to the situation described the message from management to the staff as, «You got to do what you got to do.»

Westbrook was 5-for-17 from the field when Vogel put in Malik Monk for him with L.A. trailing 101-94.

Apart from his offensive struggles, Westbrook failed to execute on the defensive end. The final straw, pushing the staff to honor their instinct to bench him, was when Caris LeVert blew by Westbrook on defense for a layup with 7 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.

The coaching staff had repeatedly emphasized the scouting report to take away LeVert's right hand, and Westbrook, guarding LeVert at the top of the key one-on-one, didn't angle himself properly to thwart the drive and allowed LeVert easy access to the paint en route to the hoop.

Asked what was behind his decision to bench Westbrook, the normally measured Vogel responded with a matter-of-fact edge.

«Playing the guys that I thought were going to win the game,» he said.

Vogel's job has been in jeopardy since L.A. was blown out at the Denver Nuggets by 37 over the weekend, according to various reports.

The coaching staff had been debating whether to pull Westbrook from late-game situations for weeks,